Perspective
A Positive Stock-Bond Correlation Is a Terrible Reason to Add More Equity Risk to Your Portfolio
April 8, 2026
As the correlation between stocks and bonds has turned positive, many investors have questioned whether bonds still provide meaningful diversification and have looked to alternative "replacements." This perspective argues that most popular substitutes add more equity risk, not less, and shows that true diversification still requires strategies with genuinely low or negative equity beta—not simply abandoning bonds.
Journal Article
An Interview with Cliff Asness: The Illusion of Safety in Private Assets
March 31, 2026
In an interview with the editor of The Journal of Private Markets Investing, Cliff Asness reiterates his views on the numerous flaws embedded in private assets, and what investors should keep in mind when assessing the role of privates in their own portfolios.
Perspective
I Did Not Predict What Is Going on in Privates
March 25, 2026
I push back on claims that I predicted recent turmoil in private markets, clarifying that my prior work focused on long‑term issues like volatility mismeasurement, illiquidity, and expected returns—not short‑term market calls. While privates play a real economic role, I argue investors shouldn’t confuse smoothed valuations and perceived stability with lower risk or superior long‑run performance.
Journal Article
An Interview with Jordan Brooks: Multi-Asset Strategies and Asset Allocation
March 10, 2026
In a comprehensive interview, AQR Principal Jordan Brooks outlines his thoughts on building multi-asset portfolios – including investing across a range of assets, incorporating low-correlation strategies, designing portfolios to be resilient, and more.
Alternative Thinking
2026 Capital Market Assumptions for Major Asset Classes
January 14, 2026
We update our estimates of medium-term (5- to 10-year) expected returns for major asset classes. We also include a discussion on currency risk and currency hedging, with particular considerations for U.S. and European investors.
White Paper
Diversifying Alternatives and the Rearview Mirror
November 3, 2025
Part 10: This paper examines how investor biases and performance-chasing behaviors can undermine the benefits of long/short diversifying alternatives. We explore why such strategies often feel disappointing in bull markets, yet remain vital for long-term portfolio resilience.
Perspective
There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
August 11, 2025
Our latest piece on Buffer Funds appears in the current issue of the Journal of Portfolio Management. Once again, and with more analysis (and co-authors) than our two previous posts on the topic, we find these products don’t hold up to scrutiny, either empirically or theoretically. Buffer funds by and large have sold investors the promise of comfort, cloaked in complexity, at the cost of risk-adjusted returns. Our paper shows there are simpler, less expensive, and more effective ways to deal with the risk of equity markets.
Journal Article
Rebuffed: An Empirical Review of Buffer Funds
August 11, 2025
Equity investing is hard: volatility can be high, returns are unpredictable, and drawdowns can be painful. “Defined outcome” strategies such as buffer funds are the latest in a decades-long lineage of products promising equity-like returns with less downside risk. Like their predecessors, a closer look at these strategies reveals they fall short both empirically and theoretically.
White Paper
Diversifiers Forever
July 31, 2025
In a portfolio whose investment horizon is forever, do diversifying investments add any value? In this short paper, we illustrate the surprising power of diversification for ultra-long-term investors.
White Paper
How Did We Get Here? A Brief History of Expected Returns Formation
June 20, 2025
Part 4: We present our history of expectation formation: How have investors formed long-run return expectations over time, and how have academics perceived that investors do it, or ought to do it?